Dave Chappelle Opens Up About Canceled Show, Accuses Pro-Trans Protesters Of Inciting Violence

Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
Controversial comedian Dave Chappelle is, once again, talking about his ongoing rivalry with the trans community regarding the jokes he tells about them on stage and his right to tell said jokes.
In a recent episode of his Midnight Miracle podcast, Chappelle opened up about a Minneapolis show in July last year that got canceled at one venue and moved to another because the first venue decided to stand by the LGBTQ community by not hosting a comedian whose content is believed to be harmful to said community.

During the episode, Chappelle accused protesters at the second venue, Varsity Theater, of being violent towards his fans as they stood in line.
From Deadline:
In the podcast, Chappelle said that “they wanted me to say something inflammatory” as protestors allegedly threw eggs at the fans waiting to see his show at the new venue at Varsity Theater.
“In a weird way, they had the intention of inciting violence against themselves for publicity,” he said.
“The trans [people] and their surrogates, always say that my jokes are somehow gonna be the root cause of some impending violence that they feel like is inevitable for my jokes,” Chappelle said. “But I gotta tell you, as abrasive as they were, the way they were protesting, throwing eggs at people, throwing barricades, cussing and screaming, [none of my fans] beat ‘em up.”
Chappelle also spoke on his feelings about his show being moved from its original venue, First Avenue, in the first place.
“I was upset. I wasn’t mad that they canceled the show,” he said. “I was mad at the statement they released… You’re sorry? For booking me? What’s there to be sorry about is the position I was taking… I’m not even mad that they take issue with my work. Good, fine. Who cares? What I take issue with is the idea that because they don’t like it, I’m not allowed to say it.”
“They want to be feared,” he continued. “‘If you say this, then we will punish you. We’ll come to First Avenue and f-ck your show up and we’ll come to the Varsity Theater and f**** your show up.’ And they just don’t get to do that.”
Soooo, here’s the thing: They absolutely do get to do that.
Don’t get me wrong, if protestors were throwing eggs and other objects at people standing in line for Dave’s show, they should absolutely be arrested and slapped with assault charges. And if one of them had gotten beaten up for throwing eggs at the wrong person—yeeeah, I’m not calling that a hate crime.
But just as Dave Chappelle has the freedom of speech to say whatever he wants on stage (which he’s paid millions upon millions to do, despite his claims of censorship), protesters also have the freedom of speech to speak out against him as well as the freedom of peaceful assembly (emphasis on “peaceful”) to stand outside every venue Dave performs at and protest.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Dave’s problem isn’t censorship, it’s that everyone has the right to be heard and everyone is exercising that right all at once.
But for real, don’t get your a-s whooped for throwing eggs.
Dave Chappelle Opens Up About Canceled Show, Accuses Pro-Trans Protesters Of Inciting Violence was originally published on cassiuslife.com